


Uncomplicated Kindness

by prairiecrow



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Internal Monologue, M/M, No Dialogue, Pre-Slash, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-08
Updated: 2012-09-08
Packaged: 2017-11-13 20:31:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/507441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prairiecrow/pseuds/prairiecrow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An internal monologue at the end of a pleasant evening.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Uncomplicated Kindness

**Author's Note:**

> Set post-"Cardassians" and pre-"The Wire".

You glance at me as we exit the turbolift, your gaze questioning me silently as we pause a heartbeat before going our separate ways. It isn't hard to read your query, nascent and subconscious though it may be, and I allow a trace of an amused smile to reveal itself. Ah, my dear Doctor! How could you possibly understand?

I know what it is you're asking for, although you seem unaware of the precise nature of your own interest. In my long and frequently dangerous life I've sampled my share of sexual partners — some male, some female, some rather… fluid in their concept of gender, all of which made for a variety of exhilarating encounters. Unlike many of my fellow Cardassians my tastes are fairly wide-ranging in that regard, so when I saw you sitting in the Replimat a year or so ago and found myself immediately attracted to your smooth unadorned male beauty, alien and passingly feminine though it was, it really wasn't much of a surprise. After all, I'd already gotten a sense of your physical perfection from the image attached to your Starfleet file: even from the shoulders up, you're a remarkably attractive young man. 

So your handsomeness was not unexpected. What caught me off-guard was your personality, which was far more lively and engaging than I'd anticipated: I generally don't find callow eagerness attractive in the least, but you wear it so well that I simply can't help but admire the effect. The delight that shines in your face when offered a conversational challenge is positively infectious, and the way it lights up your entire demeanour — 

Ambient illumination of this wretched station aside, my life is much darker in the hours I spend apart from you. The temptation to expand our acquaintance is undeniable in its intensity… and you are _so_ eager, aren't you, darling boy? In ways that you don't fully comprehend yet — but I suspect that I could educate you in that respect as well. The first touch would startle you; the first kiss might alarm you; but I am not inexperienced in that regard, or so I flatter myself. I think you could be easily persuaded, with a little coaxing, and then I would have what my traitorous heart desires in the lonely reaches of the night: your melodic voice, your laughter so full of unguarded pleasure, your dark adoring eyes and your slender willing body — any of those aspects are marvellously attractive, of course, but the combination could easily prove deadly for a man in my position. 

Or in yours.

The problem is that you're far too aware of your own loveliness. Once the initial surprise had passed you would certainly realize the strength of your position — and what then? Could I risk allowing your brash youthful foolhardiness so near to my own carefully guarded secrets? The answer is obvious, especially when the persuasive caress of your full lips in a tender moment could easily tempt my own to indiscretion.

So take my smile and my courteous _Good night_ for what it's worth, my dear, and be grateful that my solicitude on your behalf exists in greater measure than my lust. For the truth, which I never tell if I can possibly help it, is this: you've offered me your friendship without qualification, and in consequence I would go to considerable lengths to preserve you from harm. I may be a monster of a magnitude you could scarcely imagine, but even I am not utterly immune to the charms of uncomplicated kindness.

THE END


End file.
